


Kalabar's First Love

by ka_coll



Category: Halloweentown (1998)
Genre: But not overly halloweeny, Cool to read all year really, Everyone Is Gay, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friends to Lovers to Enemies, Halloween, Magic, Magic School, Origin Story, Original Character(s), POV First Person, Potential Minor Character Death, Prequel, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:49:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26960932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ka_coll/pseuds/ka_coll
Summary: Before Gwen Piper was a seemingly mortal mother to Marnie, Dylan, and Sophie, she was Gwendolyn Cromwell, witch, and daughter to the former Princess of Halloweentown. But what led her to leave the world she grew up in? And how much of her relationship with Kalabar is responsible?"I used to long for summers that never came. I grew up in a place where autumn was king,  Octobers never end, and Halloween, well, that was just called living."
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	Kalabar's First Love

Kalabar’s First Love

I used to long for summers that never came. I grew up in a place where autumn was king, Octobers never end, and Halloween, well, that was just called living. Every passing day existed in that twilight time of year where things are wont to die. Halloweentown was the home of magic and monsters alike, where prophecy meant more than a promise. I couldn’t tell you the exact moment I came to hate it all; I just know that when I left, I never looked back. 

I didn’t always feel that way though. The weeks before Kal and I headed to university remain a bright spot when I think back to my last few years in Halloweentown, like a laugh amongst your final breaths. Every day we met under the Augury Tree and filled our days doing nothing and everything. The Augury Tree was no secret hiding place, everyone knew about it, but really it was  _ our  _ tree, simply because we proclaimed it to be. I bet if you looked at it right now, you’d still see our initials carved into the bark. 

On our last day though, I didn’t show up. I could see the tops of the gnarled gray branches from my bedroom. I knew he would already be standing beneath it, waiting for me to arrive. I curled up on my bed, pulling the quilt over my head just enough so that I was cocooned in its warmth, but I could still see. I stared at the scuffs in the hardwood. The crystals in my window scattered rainbows across my room, and every time the sun fell behind a cloud they vanished.

Ten minutes after I was meant to meet Kal at the Augury Tree, I heard a soft knocking. I peeked out from under the quilt. Kal hovered in front of my window. The light cast a halo around his dark curls, and he cocked his head when he saw me. I buried myself under my pillows. The knocking returned, this time more urgently. When it became clear he wasn’t going to stop, I groaned and rolled out of bed. I ignored my reflection in the mirror as I opened the window, I didn’t need it to tell me that my auburn hair was sticking out in every possible direction.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Kal said as he climbed into my room, pulling his broom in with him. “Did we sleep in today?”

“No, I’m just sad,” I sighed. 

I lay on the floor and he lay down next to me, his long legs propped up on the cauldron sitting next to my bookcase.

“Why are you sad?”

“You know why! We leave tomorrow. After high school ended, I thought we had oceans of time, but in the end, it seemed to last a heartbeat.”

“We’re going to college, Gwen, not heading to war. We’re not even going to different schools!”

“I know,” I shrugged. “It’s still gonna be different though. No more pumpkin fudge sundaes at The Emporium or broom flying all day just to see how far we can get before dusk. And Witch U only accepts witches and warlocks, so we have to say goodbye to all our other friends. I don’t know, it just feels like we’re saying goodbye to our childhoods. Now all that’s left for us is a life of responsibility.”

Kal let out a deep sigh. “You’re right, clearly the best thing to do on the last day of our childhood is to mope around and hide inside.” I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. He laughed, throwing one back. “You’re thinking about this all wrong. Imagine the incredible spells we’re going to learn at WU, not to mention the adventures we’ll go on! Sure our other friends can’t join us, but we’ll see them again. And think of all the cool new people we’ll meet.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Of course I am!” Kal jumped up and grabbed my hands to pull me up too. “Now let’s get you dressed.”

He examined me for a moment then snapped his fingers. A pink ball gown sprouted over my body and a powdered wig stuffed itself over my scalp. 

“Kal!” I exclaimed.

I snatched the wig off my head, throwing it out the window. A moment later, it transformed into a bird.

“Sorry, is that not the fashion these days?” He asked, his expression full of faux confusion. A smirk twisted at his full lips. 

I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t stop the smile spreading across my freckled face. When I snapped my fingers, the ballgown was replaced with a blue cloak over a Hex Girls band t-shirt and ripped jeans. My hair plaited itself into a french braid. A matching blue witch’s hat placed itself on my head.

“Come on, the gang’s waiting for us by the movie theater,” he said, climbing back out the window. I moved to grab my broom. “We’re headed in the same direction, might as well just hop on mine.” 

A flutter of  _ something _ went through me. It felt eerily like the crush I had on Van Helsing in middle school, but that made no sense; it was just Kal. I agreed and he steadied me while I climbed on behind him. My hands rested on the bundle of twigs at the back, for some reason I didn’t want to get too close. He took off much faster than I had been expecting. I lurched backward and I would’ve fallen right off if I didn’t wrap my arms around him. I felt him shaking with laughter.

“Asshole,” I yelled, breathless, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the way his body felt in my arms, soft and strong at the same time. 

* * *

Monsters, as I’ve come to learn since leaving Halloweentown, often make for better friends than people. In the mortal world, monsters skulk about in the shadows eating children or stealing young maidens. They are nothing more than stories, projections of fear. Sure, mortals and monsters once shared the world and even now, there remains a grain of truth to the frightening tales. But we learned the hard way that, more often than not, people are just looking for something to blame. The truth of it is, in the mortal world, monsters are people. Or no, that’s not quite right; monsters are choices. They skulk about in bad intentions and lies and, well, come to think of it, sometimes even in the truth. 

But in Halloweentown, where we were all of us, the horrid things that went bump in the night, all our flaws and misgivings were laid out bare. That’s not to say we couldn’t act monstrous, only that we knew what we were and accepted it. And that went a long way when it came to something like friendship.

Kal and I had collected our little group of monsters over the years as most childhood friends do, through coincidence, shared history, and a handful of summoning spells. Another pang of sadness hit me when I saw them, huddled together in front of the theater, but it softened when they saw the two of us flying together and waved in unison. Rock let out a wolfish howl in excitement, though the full moon was ages away, and Jasper high fived us when we landed. It went through us, as did all his high-fives, but it never failed to amuse him. Victoire stood back in the shade, partially due to being a vampire and partially due to being my ex. Flossie wiggled her bushy, blue, troll eyebrows at me as I hopped off.

“I see you and Kal are getting rather close,” she whispered so only I could hear. “When are you two going to finally just admit you have feelings for each other?”

“We’re just friends.”

“So were you and Victoire, but you still dated.”

“That was different,” I sighed. I glanced over at Victoire and she averted her gaze, moving closer to the others to join their conversation. “We were only friends for a few months before we started going out. I’ve known Kal my whole life.”

“Exactly! You’re soulmates,” Flossie grinned. She twirled me around, though it was difficult as I was a solid foot taller than her, and her puffy dress of pink tulle kept getting in the way.

“Are you guys all packed to leave tomorrow?” Rock’s booming voice cut through the air. They were giant, even for a werewolf, a solid brick of muscle and hair, but they always had a bit of panic behind their brown eyes, and at that moment they looked even more alarmed than they normally did. “I finished days ago, but I keep going through everything just to be sure I didn’t forget anything. My mom said The Werewolf Institute always has extra clothes on hand, but still.”

“I’ll pack tomorrow morning before I leave. It only takes a second,” Kal said, snapping his fingers with a wink.

“I haven’t packed yet either,” I said. “My mom was supposed to help me, but she then got called away for some big quest to help Merlin’s grandson’s husband’s garden gnome or something, and she won’t be back until next week.”

“Wait, so Aggie won’t be here to take you to school?” Flossie asked.

I shook my head.

Kal nudged me gently with his elbow. “You can join me and Gran tomorrow. We all know she loves you more than me anyway, so really you’ll be doing us a favor.”

He winked at me and I rolled my eyes but leaned my head against his shoulder briefly in silent thanks. 

“I never went to university,” said Jasper. He spoke softly with a lilting accent that had long since disappeared in the world. “It was still a rather new occurrence when I was alive. Not that I could’ve gone to Oxford as a farmer’s son.”

“Why not?” asked Rock. “It was called Ox-ford? Surely you could learn about caring for oxen there.”

“Mortals aren’t quite as straightforward as us in their naming conventions,” Jasper smiled. His shoulder-length hair fell into his eyes. His transparent nature obscured many of his details, but I liked to imagine he had the deepest of brown eyes when he was alive, like fresh-turned earth. “Anyway, maybe I’ll visit you guys at university. I’ve heard great things about the food at the Academy for Nocturnal Arts, Victoire.”

“I imagine you didn’t hear that from the food. I suspect they have a few...complaints.” She flashed her fangs in a red-lipped smile, and though her eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, I knew those black irises would be gleaming. 

“Part of me is a little jealous that you all get to leave,” said Flossie, “but I like working at Madam Minnie’s workshop more than I ever like school. Still, we should do something to celebrate your last day. And I know exactly what because today is Halloween.”

We all exchanged glances.

“Riiiiiiiight,” said Kal slowly. “In other news, pumpkins are orange.”

“And cauldrons are black,” Jasper added. 

Flossie rolled her giant eyes. “I mean in the mortal realm. We should take the bus over, maybe go to a Halloween party and meet some cute humans.”

“None of them will compare to you, Flossie,” said Rock, scooping her up and kissing her cheek. 

She giggled and pushed them away. “Oh, would you stop it, you silly dog.”

“I think it sounds like fun,” said Victoire.

“Let’s do it,” Kal agreed.

They all looked at me and I nodded. “Let’s go show those mortals how to get spooky.”


End file.
